


9386

by ell (amywaited)



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Biotechnology, Body Modification, Cute, Cyberpunk, Fluff, Future, Futuristic, M/M, Prosthetics, Science Fiction, Slice of Life, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:01:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25434310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amywaited/pseuds/ell
Summary: He’s beautiful, always so beautiful, Carlos thinks. A mix of man and machinery and mechanics, all perfectly crafted. The moon outside might be an artificial one, but the light it sends down is gunmetal grey and silver chrome, and melts into Cecil like a second skin.He wears it so well. Carlos will never tire of seeing Cecil at night - whatever night means these days, where the darkness is projected above the lights of the street.
Relationships: Carlos/Cecil Palmer
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	9386

**Author's Note:**

> an expansion on the cyber-futuristic universe proposed in [you at the end of the world](https://archiveofourown.org/works/25210075) (this doesnt occur in the SAME universe/s proposed in that fic though. just using the same idea).
> 
> also more moon!cecil. will i ever tire of the moon motifs.
> 
> enjoy!!

Cecil has blue tracks running under his skin.

They feed from his leg and his arm and his eye to his spine, like nerves, like veins. Carlos traces over them with his fingertip, running over the meld of skin and metal where his body meets his robotics. 

He’s beautiful, always so beautiful, Carlos thinks. A mix of man and machinery and mechanics, all perfectly crafted. The moon outside might be an artificial one, but the light it sends down is gunmetal grey and silver chrome, and melts into Cecil like a second skin.

He wears it so well. Carlos will never tire of seeing Cecil at night - whatever night means these days, where the darkness is projected above the lights of the street. When it’s too dark to see properly, the lines across Cecil’s skin illuminate his body with a watery glow, pulsing with the electrical currents they carry.

Carlos likes the nights like this, where Cecil will lay on his stomach in a patch of moonlight and let it fall over him, soaking it up like water, like a cat in the sun. It means Carlos can sit just to the left of him, and track fingers down the pathways twisting over him, drawing patterns into Cecil’s body.

Cecil says, “I’m going to replace the gear in my leg soon,” and he says it quietly, like he’s afraid the words will be stolen from him. Here, in the dark, where they’re alone, everything is different. Carlos feels it too, feels the static pressure in the air.

“Why?” he asks. The gears and motors in Cecil’s mechanisms are in perfect working order, and he puts his hand on Cecil’s leg just to feel them hum.

Cecil shrugs beneath his hands. “There are new parts in development all the time. I was talking to Dana about it - she’s going to replace her hand with gold titanium. Apparently, it’ll be better for her job.”

“But your mechs are fine,” Carlos says. “Unless you got a new voice box.”

“I was just thinking about getting a new colour,” Cecil explains, “you know, they can do different neuro-track colours now.”

“Really?”

“Yep. I read about it today. I might get mine replaced with purple. Blue doesn’t really suit me.”

Carlos hums. “If you like. I think you’ll look beautiful with any colour, though.”

“Well, of course, you would think so,” Cecil says. He starts to shift, sitting up on his elbows slightly so he can pull up his handheld hologram. He starts to type something in, pulling up a forum page discussing the new advancements in the mech communities. “Look, there are whole articles about it.”

“They seem popular,” Carlos says. He skims over the forum Cecil shows him; it seems to be discussing the pros and cons of the newer developments. “Is it safe?”

“Sure it’s safe. And it is popular. People have been wanting to change their neuro-track colours for years now,” Cecil says. He flicks to a different page, this one showing a simulation of people with multicoloured track lines and mechanisms. “It’s a surprise it’s taken this long to develop, really. You’d have thought they’d experimented with it centuries ago when they first introduced nanotech and bio-robotics.”

“I guess they thought it would have been too difficult to change the colour of a neuro-track after it’s already been implanted,” Carlos says. “Are you going to do it then?”

Cecil shrugs again. He closes his hologram and lowers himself back down. “Maybe. Are you going to get any mechs?”

“No,” Carlos says. “Not yet, anyway. I quite like not having any.”

“Really?” Cecil asks. “I think you’d look wonderful with a few mods. Maybe a nice gauntlet in gold. You could get your neuro-tracks in gold too, it’d look lovely under your skin.”

Carlos shakes his head. “Not yet. If I ever tried to wear mechs with you next to me, I’d just make myself look bad.”

“Oh, don’t say that.”

“Seriously. They look amazing on you,” Carlos says. He reaches out to brush over the chrome surface of Cecil’s bicep, tracing along it until he meets the smooth skin of his shoulder and the almost seamless transition between the two. “Like you were born with them. It’s amazing.”

“It’s not that special,” Cecil protests, “everyone has mods and mechs and everything these days. You know, some people even get special ones made, just to replace a toe or a finger. Imagine that - getting a mechanic just for one toe.”

“Not everyone looks as good with them as you do,” Carlos says. Cecil squirms again, and Carlos watches as the blue light from the neuro-tracks brightens slightly as Cecil’s heart rate increases. “Stop moving, it’s true. You know it’s true.”

“You’re biased,” Cecil says. He lets his body relax though, dropping his head onto the carpet till it muffles his words slightly.

Carlos lets his hands still over Cecil’s shoulder blades, half on the metal and half on his skin. “Maybe. But everyone can see it.”

The moon has risen higher into the sky, widening the patch of moonlight that Cecil’s been lying in until it reels Carlos in too, pooling around them. Cecil rolls over onto his side so he can catch one of Carlos’s hands in his own, playing with his fingers.

“You’re still biased,” Cecil says. “You know I’ll love you whether you do or don’t get any mechs.”

“I know.”

“Good. Because I think you’ll always be beautiful,” he continues, “whether or not you decide to alter yourself. I don’t think there’s anything in this world and the next that could stop me loving you.”

Carlos smiles. “Me too. You should get those purple neuro-tracks.”

“You think so?”

Carlos nods. He squeezes Cecil’s fingers, wrapping them around his own. “I do. Maybe I’ll look into some mechs.”

“Really?” Cecil asks. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I think you’re right that a mech arm could be cool. It’d certainly help when doing science work,” Carlos says. “I guess I’ve been thinking about it for a while, really.”

“How long?”

“Since I saw you with them,” he admits. Cecil exhales in a laugh. “You make it hard to resist, you know.”

Cecil pushes himself to sit up properly. His mechs whir and crick as they settle in the new position. Carlos has long since gotten used to the white noise they provide. The moonlight seems to fall off of him in droplets, causing ripples in the light beneath them. “You’ll look beautiful with or without a mech,” he says, leaning in closer to Carlos till he can rest his head on Carlos’s shoulder. His hair tickles the joint between Carlos’s neck and shoulder, glittering from starlight. 

“You don’t even know what they’ll look like yet,” Carlos says. He presses his cheek to Cecil’s hair, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. 

“No, but I know what you look like,” Cecil says, “and I know that you’re beautiful. I know that you’ll always be beautiful.”

**Author's Note:**

> hope u liked. i love cyberpunk (&all other punk punk subgenres) a whole lot, so id love to know what u thought! leave a comment :D
> 
> brief real-life interlude: ive started a new med and its messing with my concentration & energy levels really bad rn (as well as generally having a bad time with mental health currently anyway :( ). this means fics might be a bit sporadic for a while. sorry <3<3
> 
> <3 i hope everyones staying safe and happy <3


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